Back to the basics
by Rose Black Dragon
Summary: Everyone knows that Michelangelo's mischievous personality can become the cause, unintentionally, of some problems. The good news is that most of them aren't serious, but when they are... the situation may be very dangerous. TMNT 2012.
1. Chapter 1

I had this idea some time ago, since before Donatello found out that April's blood was one of the essential components to prepare the retromutagen; so have that in mind when you read.

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 **::::: BACK TO THE BASICS :::::**

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How many times Donatello had warned his baby brother to stay away from his lab because he was afraid that Mikey could provoke an accident that might affect his health or even his life? It had been so many that he needed an executive secretary to keep track of them.

But despite the warnings of all, his father included, it seemed like Mikey was put on Earth just to be swayed by his insatiable curiosity. He, driven by his innocence and naivety, strongly believed that if he was given the opportunity, he could help his smartest brother to find out a cure for the mutagen.

Several times, as the weeks went by, Donatello stayed up following a lead that seemed to promise to give him, at last, a solution to the problem which had caused a lot of pain to the girl he liked so much, April.

The young genius was very excited because he thought that soon he would help the redhead girl to retrieve the father she had lost due to the strange alien substance. But he always found himself at a dead end and that filled him with frustration. Mikey was aware of it.

One particular day, when Mikey was in front of the T.V. watching the midnight horror movie, Donatello came out of his lab, the tiredness and hassle written all over his face. Without even saying Goodnight to his baby brother, Donatello locked himself in his room and soon after, he allowed himself to sink into his bed due to the fatigue.

Everyone in the lair was already asleep. That thought gave Mikey an idea. Without turning the T.V. off to make it appear that he was still watching it, he snuck out to the forbidden territory, his bro's lab.

A large table served Donatello as a small makeshift chemical lab; lots of flasks were on the table, all of them almost filled with substances of pretty colors. Only Mikey knew what prompted him to begin to mix a bit of the content of every flask into a big glass beaker.

The young turtle didn't rule out the content of none flask. The mixture of liquids he was preparing, included a squirt or droplets of every liquid he didn't recognize, but for him they were very attractive. He only stopped when the mixture began to steam a little, and then changed color, going from a sort of light green to a very bright orange.

"WOW! It's a pretty color! I'm sure I have created a new soft drink! I bet it has a great flavor!" Mikey muttered, relishing in the result. "I'm going to taste it." He thought.

The prankster grabbed the glass beaker to have a sip of his new 'soda' but he stopped right away at feeling that the glass beaker was a bit warm.

"Yuck! Warm soda tastes nasty! I will pour some of this in a glass and put it in the fridge. And tomorrow it will be fresh." After thinking, Mikey went to the kitchen, took a normal glass, and did it, but only half of the liquid was enough to fill the glass.

After putting the glass in the fridge, Mikey disposed of the rest of the mixture, dumping it in one of the sewer tunnels.

"That's it. Now nobody can copy my formula. My soft drink will be a sensation and I will be rich!" Mikey laughed as he made his way back home. When he got there, he turned off the T.V. and went to sleep.

The next morning, just after he woke up, he heard a yell from his brother in purple, "MICHELANGELO!" The young turtle got out of bed and went where his brother was.

"Geez, what made him notice I was there? I even threw away the glass beaker I used to prepare my soda."

"MIKEY! Why you have been playing in my lab!?" The young genius asked him very angry.

"Why do you think it was me!?" Mikey replied trying to defend himself.

"Because you are the only one who doesn't listen to reason or warning, you fool! Besides, all my flasks are graduated so I can say there is a lack of liquids! Right now you could be dead for being so reckless!"

"Don't be angry, Donnie..." Mikey muttered with a remorseful voice as an excuse. He noticed that his brother's anger was caused by fear that something bad could happen to him. "I just prepared a soda, don't worry."

Upon hearing the word "soda", drops of a cold sweat began to roll down from Donatello's forehead.

Donatello grabbed Mikey by his shoulders and shook him as he yelled at him, he was nearly hysterical: "YOU DIDN'T DRINK IT, DID YOU?"

"No! I didn't!" Mikey answered, rubbing his neck, he was a little upset about the stiff neck he got after his brother had shaken him. Donatello let out a sigh of relief.

"The soda was warm, so I put it in the fridge to cool it down," Mikey added, his brother's fears came back to him like a pack of hungry wolves.

"Why didn't you tell me that in the first place!?" Donatello yelled, pushing his baby brother aside and then running to the kitchen like a fast car. "You didn't ask me!" Mikey yelled.

Donatello ran as fast as a lightning across the living room where his big brothers were. Raphael was reading a magazine and Leonardo was sitting in front of the T.V. The young genius turtle began to look for the glass in the fridge, but all the containers inside it were full of food. The only liquids inside were two bottles of water and a milk carton.

During the frantic searching, Michelangelo was already by the side of his brother. "Where did you put it, Mikey!? I can't find it!"

Mikey frowned and took a look inside the fridge. "That's weird... I poured it in a glass that looked like the one that is on the dish rack..."

Those words made Donatello's blood run cold, someone had drunk the liquid and had washed the glass.

Right at that moment Raphael got into the kitchen. "What are you two up to? Why are you running like crazy?"

Donatello didn't want to scare his brother so he asked him calmly: "Raph, ¿did you drink the liquid that was in this glass?"

"At first I thought I would do it, but when I realized it was orange soda I asked Leo if he wanted it, you know it's his favorite flavor..." Before Raphael could finish the explanation, his two brothers went pale, got out of the kitchen and went to the living room.

In front of the T.V., everything their big brother used to wear was lying on the floor. His knee pads, elbow pads, the bandages of his feet and hands, his belt, his katanas inside their scabbards and his bandana.

The three turtles were standing there like they were paralyzed looking at their big brother's belongings when all of a sudden they saw something that was moving under the fabric of Leo's bandana.

"What's that?" Mikey asked, gently lifting the bandana a little. Right under, a tiny turtle was trying to get out from under the fabric. Little Mikey picked the tiny turtle up very carefully and put it in the palm of his hand. Raphael and Donatello got closer, they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"I didn't know Leo had bought a pet..." Mikey said, earning a big knock on the head from Raphael.

"Of course not, silly!" Donatello yelled at him, taking the tiny turtle from the hand of his baby brother. "It is... Leo..." The smart turtle finally said, recognizing the shade of green of his big brother's skin. "Do you have any idea what this means. Mikey?

"Does it mean I won't make a fortune with my new soda?" He got another knock on the head from Raphael.

"It means you have found the retromutagen! Just you and your good luck could have accomplished this!" Donatello finished that sentence whispering it, without believing that just in one night his baby brother has found the remedy by sheer chance.

"Do you still have some of it, Mikey?" At hearing the question the prankster scratched his head, a clear sign that he didn't want to answer the question but he ended up answering: "No. I don't. I threw it away in the sewer system, I didn't want anybody to steal the formula of my new soda..." Third knock in the head from Raphael.

"Stop saying that word!" Donatello yelled once again, beginning to lose his temper. "The bad news is that Leo washed the glass after drinking the liquid... there is nothing left to analyze..." Donnie mentioned in despair.

"The lesson here is: don't be so clean," Mikey said, trying to be witty. This time a big smack on the head almost knocked him to the floor. "Stop hitting me, Raph!" The freckled turtle complained.

Donatello asked Raphael to take care of Leo, then he almost dragged Mikey to his lab.

In spite of the fact that Raphael hit Mikey every time he said a silly thing, he had limited himself to stare with a huge curiosity at the brother who had returned to his original form.

Neither Donatello nor Michelangelo had realized that their grumpy brother had remained silent during the whole time they were bickering. The tough turtle was a little confused when Donnie asked him to look after their tiny big brother.

As soon as Donatello got into his lab with Mikey, Raphael stared again at the little being that was in the palm of his hand. For just a second he felt that the tiny turtle was staring at him with curiosity too.

The small size and obvious fragility of Leo's original body, aroused a deep feeling of tenderness in the ninja in red like he had never felt before. The tiny eyes looking at him seemed to reflect admiration.

Gently, Raphael got close to the steps they used as seats and placed the tiny turtle on one of the cushions. As soon as he did it, the small turtle began to give off weird sounds, like he was complaining about the change of place.

Raphael was completely confused, he didn't know what to do, so he picked the tiny turtle up again and held him between his hands. When the small turtle felt that he was being picked up, he stopped complaining.

"Well, well... so you do like to be held by someone, don't you?" The ninja in red muttered as he smiled, he had discovered something he didn't know about his big brother. The corners of Raphael's lips got down as his smile disappeared to make way to an expression of amazement at seeing that the tiny Leo was rubbing his little face against one of Raphael's fingers like he was thanking him.

Raphael looked in all directions to make sure nobody was looking at him and when he was absolutely sure, he touched the tiny turtle's head with his lips giving him a soft kiss. Raphael laid down on one of the steps and found himself placing his small brother on one of his shoulders, just the way he used to do it with Spike.

Little Leo slowly walked over Raph's shoulder until he got to the space between the skin and the plastron of the tough turtle, just above his collarbone. Once there, the tiny turtle hid his limbs and head inside his shell and closed his eyes to take a nap. And then, suddenly, Raphael felt awfully happy seeing how his now small brother was showing him he was pretty comfortable being with him.

Meanwhile, in the lab...

"Please, Mikey, concentrate you have to remember the order in which you mixed the fluids..." Donatello begged his baby brother once again, patience and calmness lacing his voice.

"Let me think..." Mikey really was trying his best to remember the order he had added every liquid to the main container, but he couldn't and he began to get desperate.

"I don't know! I can't remember! I'm so sorry Donnie!" Mikey exclaimed, feeling very guilty. Donatello gave up the idea that his baby brother could remember everything he had done, so he got close to him, gave him a big hug and said: "Don't worry Mikey, at least now I know which substances you used and the quantity. It will take me some time to find the right order, but you have helped me to make considerable progress."

"Why don't you put them all together at the same time and that's it?" Mikey asked him, feeling calmer.

"Sometimes the chemical reactions are very specific and require a precise order to work properly, Mikey. That's why I can't mix them in a random order. But don't worry, now, the most important is to get Leo back to his original form; well... you know what I mean."

"Is it going to take a long time?" The younger turtle asked.

"A day or two, I just have to calculate the precise dose for the exact change. The first time, we were lucky little brother. A coincidence made it possible. Thanks to our individual genes, the time and the amount of mutagen to which we were exposed, our qualities and defects became more notorious resulting in what we are today. I hope Leonardo can get back all his memories and experiences or he will have to begin from the start, already being a teenager. Mikey didn't like that possibility at all, if that happened, they would have to get by without a leader for a while.

To keep his baby brother away from the sad thoughts, the smarter turtle told him: "You go and see how Leo is doing, help Raph to take care of him." Swiftly, the smile came back to Mikey's face.

"I'm gonna be the best brother to Leo now that he has become so tiny!"

Raphael couldn't take his eyes off his now tiny 'big brother'. Leonardo, at that moment, had little in common with old Spike, but the ninja in red perfectly knew that the feeling inside his heart was different from the attachment to a pet. Even though Leonardo had come back to his essential form, the brotherly love of him to his big brother was still the same.

For a second, Raphael thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad his brother could remain in that form... at least for a while. Maybe the others hadn't realized, but with all the problems The Kraang and Shredder were causing, Leonardo, little by little spent more and more time at his father's side to hone his abilities and, very subtly, he was beginning to stop doing the fun stuff he was used to do.

Clearly, Raphael had heard the potent exclamation of happiness from his baby brother and quickly took the tiny turtle that was resting over his body and placed him on the nearest cushion. He grabbed a magazine and pretended he was reading it.

As soon as the little turtle felt he had been moved away from his comfy place, began to complain again. The first thing Mikey heard as he approached the place his brother in red was resting, were the faint sounds coming from his tiny big brother.

"Poor Leo, what did you do to him, Raphael? Why is he crying?" Mikey asked a bit annoyed upon noticing the well played indifference of the ninja in red after hearing the complaints of the tiny turtle.

"I didn't do anything to him, knucklehead! He was already making noises since you left... maybe he is hungry!" Raphael yelled at his baby brother so he won't notice his nervousness.

Gently, Mikey picked Leo up and directly went to the kitchen to give his big brother something to eat. Halfway he noticed the tiny turtle was rubbing his small face against one of his fingers. Michelangelo's simple and loving heart made him let out a sigh of tenderness. For the first time, since the incident, he was happy because of what had happened.

Mikey put the small turtle on the hard surface of concrete they used as a table in the kitchen and began to cock breakfast. He never thought that his brother in that state couldn't reason as before; besides, the prankster hadn't become aware that his tiny big brother couldn't stay still. It was a dangerous combination.

Little Leo began to walk and Mikey didn't notice, wrapped up in keeping an eye on what he had on the stove. A brief second after Leo had reached the edge of the surface used as a table, the sound of a body crashing against the "table" was heard, it really scared Mikey.

The freckled turtle immediately turned around to find out what had happened. As he turned around, Raphael got up off the floor with Leo in one of his hands, giving the prankster a furious look.

"Leo almost falls to the floor, you big fool! Weren't you keeping an eye on him?" The tough turtle scolded his baby brother, putting the little one he had just saved on the table once again. "If I wouldn't have come to have breakfast, he would have gotten hurt!"

"Are you nuts, Raph? You are talking about Leo! He is a great ninja!" Mikey replied, not realizing he was being a fool and he emphasized his words with a huge silly smile.

"HE WAS! Now he is a normal turtle." Raphael yelled at him, not being able to believe that Mikey didn't understand the serious situation.

"That's not true! Maybe he is tiny, but Leo hasn't ceased being who he is..." Mikey exclaimed, reminding once again the fears his mind had given birth after his smarter brother has mentioned him his own fears. "I'm going to show you that Leo is still the same!" Mikey assured him, leaving the kitchen and heading to his room. At that time the smarter turtle also came to have breakfast too.

"Where did Mikey go?" Donatello asked Raphael as he took a seat beside his brother. But first he turned the stove off; Mikey had forgotten it was on.

"He went to his room yelling; somehow he is convinced Leo is still the same." Raphael replied as he looked at the small turtle that was in his hand, he understood the feelings of his baby brother. It seemed that Donatello drew all the attention of the tiny turtle because since he got to the kitchen, Leonardo was staring at him intently.

 **To be continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

After giving out a deep sigh due to the dismay, Donatello fixed his gaze at his big brother. He was surprised that the tiny turtle was staring at him intently, like he could understand what was happening.

"Allow me to hold him, Raph..." the smart turtle asked the turtle in red who was thinking how they were going to explain to Splinter what had happened.

"What? Oh... yes..." Raphael reached out his arm, that way Leonardo was within Donnie's reach. After gently grabbing Leo, Donatello put him in the palm of his hand.

Donatello seemed a little worried so he focused to check on Leo and to measure him.

"What's the matter, Donnie?" The purple banded turtle closed his eyes for a few seconds. Raphael was looking at him while the genius was thinking after doing his observations and measurements.

It seems that the retromutagen Mikey has discovered not only reverted our brother to his original form but also it is... no... I don't think it is possible..." Donatello interrupted his explanation because suddenly Leo's small body began to emit a very faint shine, but it was still noticeable.

"What the shell is going on!?" Raphael muttered. The look of astonishment on Donnie's face made him feel something was really wrong.

Without a doubt, the tiny turtle, after the strange reaction of his body, had shrunk a little bit.

"This ain't happening..."

"Donatello! Do you want to keep me on tenterhooks all day!? Tell me what the shell has happened!"

"Leo... he... he is getting younger..."

Although those words didn't sound so bad for Raphael, the tone in the voice of the purple banded turtle made him understand he was wrong, even without asking.

"Are you sure?" Besides the size, Raphael didn't notice any other important change.

"Of course I'm sure! When have I ever been wrong, Raphael!?"

"Calm down, Brainiac!" Raphael barked frowning, "but to me it looks like he only shrunk a little."

"Do you remember how many concentric rings Leo had on every plate of his shell when we first found him under his bandana?"

Donatello knew too well that neither Raphael nor Mikey were very observant with certain details, so he saved his grumpy brother the waiting time.

"Well, I did. He had fifteen rings and until a few seconds ago he had fourteen and right now he has thirteen, that means I have to act swiftly, now he is thirteen..."

"Only thirteen?"

"Yes, it is not an exact science, but each ring represents a year of life, if Leo gets back to be an egg, I don't even want to imagine what might happen..."

"Great..." the grumpy turtle muttered sarcastically. He rolled his eyes to the sky to hide his concern a little.

Donatello let out another sigh of despair. He covered his face with his free hand to hide the furrowed brow he had at that instant.

Right at that moment little Leo bit him.

"Aah!" Even though the bite hadn't been so hard, Donatello's instinct made him turn his hand when he felt the pain, his tiny brother fell on the surface of the table, landing on his shell. The little turtle tried to get to his feet, but he couldn't.

"Be careful, Brainiac!" Raphael railed at him as he helped Leo to turn over himself to have him in the palm of his hand one more time.

"Leo bit me!" Donatello complained, showing his finger to Raphael, signaling the bite mark the tiny turtle had left on him.

"It's nothing serious, you are such a whiner!" Raphael mocked him after looking at the bite mark. As he was laughing, Leo bit him too. The grumpy turtle did the same as the smartest turtle. The good thing was that also on that second occasion Leonardo was close to the table again and didn't get hurt.

"What's wrong with him!?" Raphael asked, feeling very upset, but not so much because of the bite, but by the amused look on Donnie's face who was then helping Leo to get to his feet.

"It looks like our brother still has a certain degree of consciousness. A moment ago I seemed to me that he was looking at me curiously, but I thought it was his primitive instinct aware of the dangers, I was wrong. When I'm under a lot of pressure, Leo always shows his concern for me. He tells me just the words I need to hear to cheer me up or to take the load off my mind, at least for a while to relax. But now he can't talk, so he does the best he can with what he has, as always." Donnie explained, with a calmer face.

"Am I to understand he bit me because I was mocking you?" Raphael asked. But actually that question already had his answer; it was rhetorical in every sense of the word because earlier, Raphael had already witnessed his big brother's behavior. He had also sensed that Leonardo was his usual self to some extent.

A mocking glance showed itself on the face of the young scientist. Before Raphael could protest, Michelangelo was coming back from his bedroom.

Mikey was hiding something because he had his hands behind his shell. With a smile that could convince anyone of his good idea, he got close to the table and before his brothers could ask him anything, he picked up his big brother and turned around so the others couldn't see what he was doing.

Looking at each other with resignation, Raphael and Donatello didn't interrupt Mikey's suspicious action. They only had to wait a couple of minutes until Mikey turned around again to smile at them, ready and willing to show them what he had done. The young prankster was gently holding his big brother with both hands, close to his chest, that way they couldn't see him.

"Now you will see that our brother is still the same, Raphie!" With a blind faith and a lovely candidness, Mikey put Leo on the table again, but now the tiny turtle was carrying a pair of little swords made of plastic over his shell, without a doubt those tiny weapons belonged to an action figure from Mikey's collection.

Mikey was anxiously awaiting, looking at his big brother, the thrill of what he thought he was soon to see was showing all over his face. The youngest turtle's attitude displayed his hope in its full glory. One more time Raphael and Donatello looked at each other, but now their glances showed a deep sorrow and a bit of impatience.

"Mikey..." Donnie tried to say, a couple a minutes later at seeing that Mikey was beginning to show he was a little disappointed.

"We just have to give him a little more time, Donnie..." the prankster said, interrupting his genius brother.

"Listen..." Raphael also wanted to intervene; he had guessed the thoughts of his baby brother too. He knew perfectly well that a killing sadness would seize his baby brother's heart because he knew that what Mikey was expecting to see, would never happen.

Mikey ignored Raphael; he was focused on looking at Leo who was staring back at him. It seemed that the eldest turtle understood what his baby brother was expecting from him, but since he was unable to do it, in a way he was apologizing to him.

Donatello's heart ached when he saw that his little brother's hopes vanished. He didn't dare to utter any more words, but Raphael did.

"Little bro, you have to understand that Leo..." He couldn't finish what he was saying because Mikey upon feeling all the consequences of what he had done, he yelled at him: "Shut up, hothead! He just needs to get used to them because they are not his katanas!"

The only thing he had achieved with that scream, was to break the leash which was containing Raphael's rage. Without thinking about the consequences, Raphael also yelled at him: "What were you expecting to see, knuckle head!? Did you believe Leo would stand on two feet and would begin to show his special techniques with those weapons!? You are a bigger fool than I thought you were!"

Right at the start of Raphael's rant, Mikey began to sob quietly and then, at the end, he began to whine loudly, all the guilt crushing his heart.

Raphael sighed, feeling a bit of annoyed, a bit guilty and really willing to fix what he had caused due to his lack of patience. The tough turtle walked the short distance between him and his baby brother to comfort him, gently placing both hands on Mikey's shoulders.

"Mikey, please forgive me, but what I told you is true, Leo... he is not the one he used to be, maybe he still recognizes us and has simple forms to communicate with us, but the sooner you understand that he is not the same, the sooner we will get him back, do you get it?"

The freckled turtle, a few seconds after his brother had finished, raised his head and although some tears were still streaming down his cheeks, he smiled. Raphael did the same.

Donatello picked up Leo; he carefully took the little swords off of him and gave them to Mikey

"Here, Mikey, put them away, it seems it is a little hard for Leo to move with this little toy on his back."

"Yeah, it looks like it, Donnie..."

"Are you feeling better little bro?"

"I do, Donnie! Now that I have seen that my plan A is a complete failure, I will implement my plan B."

One more time both big brothers were overwhelmed with concern, they no longer wanted to see Mikey suffer.

Mikey noticed the worried looks on his brothers' faces so he told them: "Don't worry; this idea doesn't have anything to do with my idea of Leo still being who he was before, now it is just an idea that will help me to take better care of him.

From his belt, Mikey took out a little bag made of fabric; it was about the size of a small money pouch. Instantly, both Raphael and Donatello recognized it.

"Do you still have that thing!? I thought you had already thrown it away years ago." Raphael exclaimed.

"It's been a long time since I saw it for the last time..." Donatello said, feeling nostalgic.

"Our father told me I had to throw it away, so he ordered me to do it, but I couldn't get rid of it. For me it was too sad to think that his last destiny was to be in the garbage, so I kept it without anyone noticing." Mikey rubbed his cheek with the little bag affectionately.

That little object had been created by Leonardo's loving hands for his little brothers. The big brother, at that time when the others were beginning to experience some of the childish beliefs which were vital for their happiness, had drew up the small pouch to use it when the Tooth Fairy came to visit them. The fairy would see the pouch under the pillow and would put the money in it, paying for the little teeth they were losing while they were growing up.

Leonardo had chosen a small piece of white fabric to make the pouch and then he embroidered four teeth with smiley faces, patiently and for several days because of how young he was then. One tooth was blue, another was red, the third was orange and the last one was purple.

Now the freckled turtle had sewn a ribbon to the bag sufficiently long to use it as a necklace.

"Did you sew the ribbon, Mikey?" Raphael asked, seeing the big difference between the old fabric and the new addition. "I don't remember it had this ribbon."

"Yep, I sewed it. This way I can take better care of Leo." The prankster assured them and before his brothers would ask him how he was going to do that, Mikey picked Leo up once again and put him in the bag in such a way that Leo was able to stick his head out of the bag.

As soon as Mikey got sure his big brother was comfortable, he hung the money pouch around his neck thanks to the long ribbon. He proudly looked at his brothers, he knew it had been a great idea and it seemed that Leo agreed because it looked like he was smiling.

"This way I can keep an eye on him without a fear he can get hurt. Am I right?"

"Well, I think it is a great idea. Just put him somewhere else while you are close to the stove, little brother. The steam of the food cooking might burn him." The genius brother advised him.

Immediately, Mikey did what he was told, he hung the improved pouch, with his big brother inside, on a hook stuck on one of the farthest doors of the cupboard. With a lot of space around him, Leo was having a great time because he had begun to rock like he was on a swing.

"Aww, Leo is so adorable, he even behaves like a little child!" Mikey, after seeing his big brother was having fun despite being like that, he set out to keep cooking with such joy that his brothers let out a deep sigh of relief.

At some point, after hearing Mikey's comment about Leo's behavior, Donatello decided to leave the kitchen to go straight to the living room, but before he started to walk he gave Raphael a look which made him understand he had to follow him.

"We are going to wash our hands while you finish cooking breakfast, Mikey." Raphael told him. As an answer the prankster only nodded.

As soon as they got to the living room, Donatello whispered to his brother in red: "How are we going to explain this to our father?"

"Well, even though I'm sure we are going to face a big scolding, I think honesty is the best policy, Brainiac. Besides, I'm sure Master Splinter will notice that Leonardo isn't there." Raphael ended, a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"I already know that, Raphael! If Leo's internal body clock wasn't going back so quickly, I wouldn't be so worried and maybe I would appreciate your sarcasms a lot better!" The young genius reproached him with a sharp tone in his voice, but quietly.

"If you worry too much Leonardo is going back to normal quicker, Donatello? Remember that Leo is always telling us we should keep calm if something serious happens!" The red banded turtle yelled at his brother in purple with a pretty hostile tone but in a low voice. That way Mikey wouldn't listen to their quarrel. "Besides, let me remind you that this is all your fault!"

"Exactly in which time, dimension, universe or mind with a little common sense I am to blame, Raphael!?" Donatello immediately protested with a voice full of indignation.

"You are to blame because you know very well that Mikey in any time, dimension, universe or any of that bullshit of which you speak with that hideous presumption that nobody is as smart as you, that the knuckle head never listens to the warnings you have yelled at him a thousand times! If you really were the smartest, you would have those dangerous substances inside three safes one inside the other and so on with lots of safe combinations, that way Mikey couldn't even smell them!"

"Then I'm sure that all the Raphaels in all those places are just as annoying, sarcastic and a pain in the ass as you are!"

"Does that mean you are making my point, you idiot!?" Raphael has already reached the point of the discussion where he was going to regret all those offensive words he wasn't aware he was saying.

"Nobody in this world can call me an idiot, least of all you, Raphael!"

Both turtles would have continued arguing due to their concern if it hadn't been because they heard a yell coming from the kitchen.

"What happened, Mikey!?" Donnie asked him, his eyes looking for Leo. Fortunately, he was still inside the pouch made for the Tooth Fairy but he wasn't swinging anymore.

"I stared at Leo for just a second because I was having fun looking at him while he was playing and suddenly his body shone. I forgot I was slicing the veggies for the omelette and I cut my finger." Mikey replied showing his finger with the tiny cut.

Donatello only rolled his eyes, the childishness of his baby brother sometimes drove him to the limits of tolerance, and much more in that moment when he was so worried as well as Raphael, who only mocked Mikey.

"That's a huge wound! Your entrails are gonna pop out through there!"

"Donnie!" Mikey complained, "You promised me that the next time Raph was making fun of me you would open his head to replace his brain with a cauliflower!

"Your attitude invites half of humanity to behave like idiots, you moron!" Raphael kept on talking, really annoyed by those words.

"You are the worst, Raphael! I suffer a terrible accident and the only thing you do is treating me like dirt!" Mikey complained, but this time he didn't cry, he frowned.

"If you are complaining by such stupidity then I don't want to imagine what would happen to you if you had to face something really challenging! You wouldn't last a day!" Raphael mocked again.

"ENOUGH!" Suddenly Donatello yelled almost grinding his teeth because of the despair. "Shut up both of you at once! Your nonsense infuriates me!"

"He was the one who began to do silly things, he wasn't paying attention!" Raphael went on.

"I already told you I saw Leo's body shinning, hothead!" Mikey reminded him.

Donatello was about to yell once again but his sense of hearing had noticed some faint sounds that sounded like requests. Raphael and Mikey also stopped their arguing to hear too, just as the purple banded turtle did.

Mikey was the first one to realize where the sounds were coming from. It was Leo. The tiny turtle's eyes welled with tears, they could tell he had a while trying to draw the attention, but his feeble attempts couldn't impose order, until then.

Feeling very guilty for worrying his brother, everybody focused to breathe deeply to calm down.

"Forgive us, Leo, did we scare you with our yells? We are very sorry..." Mikey apologized, gently caressing his big brother's tiny head with the tip of one of his fingers, trying to calm him down.

Once they were calmed thanks to the eldest turtle, Donnie asked Mikey: "Are you sure you saw Leo's body shining, Mikey?"

"Yes, I'm sure, but it was brief. Is it something important?"

Neither Donatello nor Raphael dared to tell the truth to Mikey, so they smiled to not worry him. Now the resident genius was one hundred percent sure he had to hurry to calculate the exact amount of mutagen to bring his big brother back to normal.

"No, Mikey, but Raphael and I are going to visit Leatherhead to bring one of the mutagen canisters we asked him to keep safe. Maybe the amount of mutagen I have in my lab might not be enough. So, to be sure, we will go to get another."

"But don't take too long, your breakfast will get cold." Mikey reminded them, smiling. Both brothers departed, promising to get back as soon as possible. After all, Leatherhead and the others lived near there.

One more time Mikey stared at his big brother while he was rocking in the pouch. Touched by that, Mikey knew immediately that his big brother was happy again because his little brothers weren't arguing. The youngest turtle began to set the table.

In the midst of the deepest darkness, a pair of bright red eyes, almost at ground level, observed all the movements of the freckled turtle. Ironically, it seemed that the more narrowed they were, the more they shone. That shine clearly was mentally associated to a huge thirst for revenge. The owner of that pair of eyes full of grudge knew that the day to settle the score had finally arrived.

 **To be continued…**


End file.
